5' x 6'6" Persian Tabriz Rug | Wool and Silk | Ivory and Coral

A hand-knotted rug measuring 5' x 6'6", knotted in Persia with a pile of wool and silk. The field is ivory, close to unbleached cream, carrying a fine tracery of vines and small flowers around a coral star medallion. It is a rectangular piece at the upper end of the small rug range, with heavy ivory fringes at both ends.

Design

The Tabriz drawing here is curvilinear throughout. A sixteen-point star medallion sits at the centre, coral with a black outline, holding a deep blue disc and a small ivory rosette at its core, with a pendant palmette above and below on the long axis. Around it the ivory field runs an allover pattern of thin scrolling vines, cloud-band leaves, serrated star flowers and split-leaf arabesques, with a pair of coral cartouches set out at the sides. The four spandrels are picked out in a soft green in two corners and apricot in the others, so the field reads as an ogival cartouche floating within them. The main border is a broad band of rose-brown carrying black-ground star rosettes alternating with pale tulip sprays, flanked by narrow guard stripes of red rosettes on ivory and a dark meander stripe.

Colour

The dominant note is ivory, warm rather than white, and it takes up most of the surface. Against it the medallion and its pendants are a muted coral that shades towards apricot in the inner border and spandrels. A pale green, closer to celadon than to leaf, fills two of the corner spandrels and reappears in the small flowerheads scattered through the border. Blue is used sparingly: the medallion centre, the odd star flower, the outlines that read almost black in the photographs. The wide outer band is a dusty rose-brown, which keeps the whole thing quiet at the edges rather than framing it in a stronger colour.

Making

Hand-knotted, with a pile of wool and silk. The silk is used for outlines and for the small floral detail, and it catches the light differently from the wool around it, which is why the vines and flowerheads stand slightly proud of the ivory ground in the close photographs. The weave is fine enough to carry the thin stems and the tight detail inside the medallion without breaking the curves. The rug is new and the condition is perfect, with full pile, straight sides and undamaged fringes.